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There was a faint wound on Ji Dihong’s face, but he was still in high spirits.

“Your Holy Eminence, was Essence Genesis that incredible? Your Holy Eminence had to take so long to deal with him?” Emperor Kong asked, astonished.

Ji Dihong narrowed his eyes slightly as he nodded. “We headed into the void with him and only managed to shake him off using the maze ritual array we left there previously. Essence Genesis is indeed powerful, the consummation of the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm, equal to Long Zhanguo.”

“Equal to Long Zhanguo?” everyone exclaimed in shock.

“Your Holy Eminence trapped Essence Genesis in the void. Will he come back?” Emperor Kong asked anxiously.

“Don’t worry. Even if he returns, he will not come to the Huang Heavenly Dynasty again,” Ji Dihong said indifferently.

“Yes!” everyone answered.

“It looks like my Huang Heavenly Dynasty can only give up on entering the Divine Continent’s cardinal south position,” Ji Dihong sighed.

The Huang Heavenly Dynasty was in the Divine Continent’s southwest, not in a cardinal direction.

When the officials heard Ji Dihong’s words, they immediately understood how powerful Essence Genesis was. Few people in the world could make their emperor give up.

“Your Holy Eminence, we had made two plans: the Divine Continent’s cardinal south and cardinal west. The Spirit Mountain Holy Land is in the cardinal west,” Emperor Kong said with a smile.

Ji Dihong thought silently for a while before eventually nodding.

Clearly, the Myriad Age Daoist Sect was more powerful than the Spirit Mountain Holy Land to Ji Dihong, and he should pick the easier option.

“The Spirit Mountain Holy Land? Jiang Gautama? Jiang Gautama has hidden himself very deeply. He is not as he appears. We need to focus on digging out all his secrets,” Ji Dihong said.

“Is Your Holy Eminence referring to the Heavenly Demon Holy Land?” Emperor Kong asked.

Ji Dihong shook his head. “No. When the Purple Jade Heavenly Demon was in trouble, Jiang Gautama refused to interfere. That shows he is capable of resisting the Heavenly Demon Holy Land. How can we not understand his character? We cannot understand him.”

“Yes!” Everyone nodded.

“Your Holy Eminence!” a white-robed man among the officials called out.

This person’s white robes had a hood covering his face. However, his voice was suggestive of an aged person.

“Mister Cangjie, what do you want to say?” Ji Dihong asked.

[TL Note: Cangjie is a legendary figure said to have come up with the Chinese writing system. He is also believed to be an official historian of the Yellow (Huang) Emperor. However, he is considered a legendary figure rather than a historical figure. Here is the Wikipedia entry on Cangjie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cangjie.]

The officials’ expressions turned solemn. They knew how much Ji Dihong valued Cangjie, so they treated Cangjie extremely respectfully.

“I should not be bothering with this matter, but I felt curious recently and discovered something fresh and interesting to share with Your Holy Eminence!” Cangjie replied.

“Oh? What matter does Mister Cangjie think is worth sharing with me?” Ji Dihong asked curiously.

“In the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s two thousand cities, there is a type of store called a financial management store. Has Your Holy Eminence heard of it before?” Cangjie asked with a faint smile.

“A financial management store? A kind of store? It is just commerce. Business is a lowly profession. Before the military and governance, commerce can only be auxiliary. Why does Mister Cangjie pay it so much mind?” Ji Dihong asked in confusion.

The officials appeared curious. Only Mister Starless, who stood at the back, frowned slightly.

“Hah! While Your Holy Eminence looks down on these merchants, does Your Holy Eminence know that these financial management stores are about to destroy the Spirit Mountain Holy Land? These merchants are bringing a calamity to the Spirit Mountain Holy Land,” Cangjie said seriously.

“Oh?” Ji Dihong’s pupils suddenly constricted.

The officials also appeared shocked but skeptical. Destroy the Spirit Mountain Holy Land? How can that be possible? Can a few stores do something like that? You must be joking, right?

If someone else had said it, no one here would believe him. However, this was Mister Cangjie.

Mister Cangjie was knowledgeable in astronomy and geography, skilled at everything. However, he never sought power or authority. Whenever Ji Dihong had any major matters, Ji Dihong would immediately seek him out to discuss them. He had helped Ji Dihong overcome many difficult situations; hence, Ji Dihong’s great trust in him. Calling him Ji Dihong’s top adviser would be no exaggeration.

Cangjie’s mention of the financial management stores made Ji Dihong cautious.

Hence, Ji Dihong quickly sent people to bring information on the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s two thousand cities. Naturally, the civil officials immediately picked out all records concerning the financial management stores.

Then everyone in the study flipped through the information.

At first, there was nothing to it. It was just a store offering high interest rates. However, as they continued reading, everyone’s expression turned grave.

“How can this be possible? They spread throughout the two thousand cities in a mere five months? Furthermore, they gained the support of nearly all the citizens?” Ji Dihong said in shock.

Emperor Kong’s expression changed. “Who is responsible for intel? They opened chains in two thousand cities in a mere five months and gained such support. There must be an organization behind this. This is premeditated. Otherwise, how could they spread so fast? To think no one reported such a major matter?”

“There are one hundred twenty-six financial management chains spread out in various places. It’s not really a danger, right? Perhaps this is just normal commerce?” an official suggested with a frown.

“What if most of these chains are actually one? What if they named their stores differently to cover their actions?” Cangjie countered, smiling.

“Huh?”

“But what are they doing?” Emperor Kong asked in bewilderment.

Clearly, many did not consider these stores a significant threat.

“Your Holy Eminence, this official is very sensitive to numbers. When I saw this information two days ago, I sent someone to a city to record the traffic of the financial management stores. Then I made a rough estimate,” Cangjie said after a deep breath.

“Oh? Estimate? Estimate of what?” Ji Dihong said in confusion.

“An estimate of these financial management stores’ income over the past five months,” Cangjie said gravely.

The officials were confused. Income? What is there to estimate about that? The purpose of a store is to earn money; it is just a matter of how much. This is normal for a store. At most, it would be thirty to fifty million superior-grade spirit stones, right? There’s no way they can earn anywhere near one hundred million superior-grade spirit stones in five months.

Of course, while the officials felt doubtful, no one dared to criticize Cangjie. They merely gave him strange looks.

“These financial management stores earned at least six hundred billion superior-grade spirit stones over the past five months,” Cangjie said gravely.

“What?” all the officials in the study exclaimed.

Six hundred billion superior-grade spirit stones? Nearly everyone thought they had heard wrong. All the spirit stones in the Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s treasury would probably come to just a hundred billion superior-grade spirit stones—and that was after thousands of years of accumulation.

Yet, a store earned six hundred billion superior-grade spirit stones in five months? What a joke! Was it taking away all the spirit stones in the west?

Everyone goggled.

Ji Dihong also felt startled.

Although he looked down on merchants as a sovereign, a nation needed money for many things, so he understood how hard money was to earn. When such a number appeared, Ji Dihong found it somewhat unrealistic.

“Mister Cangjie, you said the correct number, right? Six hundred billion superior-grade spirit stones? They are superior-grade spirit stones?” Ji Dihong said in shock.

Just one different word could mean a substantial difference.

Everyone looked at Cangjie.

“This official is referring to superior-grade spirit stones—six hundred billion superior-grade spirit stones. Furthermore, that is a conservative estimate. That means the financial management stores might be earning much more,” Cangjie said gravely.

No one doubted Cangjie, as he never sensationalized anything.

Gasp!

Everyone in the study inhaled sharply.

Earlier, everyone was skeptical when Cangjie said the financial management stores would destroy the Spirit Mountain Holy Land. Now, this astronomical figure crushed their previous conviction.

Six hundred billion superior-grade spirit stones! That’s six times the spirit stones in my Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s treasury! It might even be more. This happened in a mere five months?

Ji Dihong could not help rereading the information on the financial management stores.

“Mister Cangjie, you said these stores would destroy the Spirit Mountain Holy Land?” Ji Dihong looked at Cangjie.

“They would still fall short of destroying the Spirit Mountain Holy Land. However, destroying the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s blessings will be easy,” Cangjie said with a deep breath.

“Destroy their blessings?” Everyone’s expression changed immediately.

“Your Holy Eminence, did you see it? During the second month, financial management stores opened nearly simultaneously in the two thousand cities. This is not the result of hard work coming to fruition; this was premeditated. That’s why this official says most of these financial management stores belong to the same organization. Furthermore, the person behind this organization is truly incredible,” Cangjie said gravely.

“The person behind?” Ji Dihong’s expression changed slightly.

“If we guess right, a great disaster will erupt in the Spirit Mountain Holy Land within one month,” Cangjie said seriously.

“Inform all the spies in the Spirit Mountain Holy Land to pay attention to any information about these financial management stores. We want all the information; relay it soonest. Also, do your best to investigate the person behind these finance management stores; spare no expense!” Ji Dihong instructed.

“Yes!” the officials answered.

Cangjie slowly stepped back in line. Since this matter had been dealt with, he said nothing more. It sufficed for Ji Dihong to understand the gravity of this situation. The nation would respond as appropriate after this.

------

Spirit Mountain Holy Land:

Beams of rainbow light rushed towards the Major Leiyin Temple. Immortal birds and divine beasts carried powerful arhats, bodhisattvas, and buddhas to the Spirit Mountain Holy Land.

Blessings churned above the Major Leiyin Temple, lending it an air of prosperity.

The various arhats had come from the major temples in the two thousand cities, all subordinate temples to the Spirit Mountain Holy Land.

The abbots of the various temples were disciples of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land, sent to spread the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s ideology and control the various cities.

When they came to the Spirit Mountain Holy Land, they all showed smiles and acted politely with one another.

On this day, the Spirit Mountain Holy Land infused Spiritual Energy into the rain at a great expense, scattering spiritual rain on the cities surrounding the Spirit Mountain Holy Land to bless the citizens.

Spiritual rain was quite beneficial to ordinary people’s cultivation. The ordinary people immediately rejoiced. The spiritual rain also greatly benefited the vegetation, making the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s surroundings lush with greenery.

Gu Qin, Long Shenying, and the old managers held up umbrellas as they looked in the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s direction, where clouds and fog shrouded the place amid beams of multicolored light.

“Jiang Gautama’s birthday? All the monks in the world are coming to celebrate. Once a century, Jiang Gautama will give a lecture at the Major Leiyin Temple to explain the mysteries of Buddhism?” Long Shenying said with narrowed eyes.

“There are many monks. I heard all the temples in the two thousand cities sent representatives to celebrate Jiang Gautama’s birthday and listen to his lecture?” an old manager said in shock.

“Such a grand occasion, truly bustling, indeed. This is not just to give a lecture but is also a grand occasion to unite the people’s hearts. Look at the arhats and bodhisattvas that gathered! How prosperous of them!” another old manager said, smiling.

“Your Highness, His Reverence told us to leave. Does that mean all the financial management stores will close soon? Given that, the citizens will not get their spirit stones back. Won’t that cause a massive riot? The blessings covering the sky will quickly…,” a manager laughed excitedly.

“Indeed. After we leave, the chaos will be unimaginable. His Reverence’s Blessings Destruction Plan is truly horrifying,” Long Shenying said in shock.

“The Major Leiyin Temple is still receiving millions of disciples for a lecture? To show off their prosperity?” a manager sneered.

Gu Qin looked at the distant Major Leiyin Temple and revealed a faint smile. “I suddenly recalled a poem Father once taught us when we were young. One of its lines is truly apt!”

“Oh?” Everyone looked at Gu Qin curiously. At the same time, they felt great anticipation for Gu Hai’s poem.

“Watch as he raises tall buildings; watch as he entertains guests; watch as his building collapses!” A cold gleam flashed in Gu Qin’s eyes.

[TL Note: The above line is from The Peach Blossom Fan, a musical play and historical drama completed in 1699, early Qing Dynasty. Here is the Wikipedia Entry on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peach_Blossom_Fan.]